We received the product for review and all opinions are our own.
A classic in the Texas Hill Country, Texas Hills Vineyard has been in the winemaking game since they first opened their doors in 1999. Several other wineries have utilized the cellar space at Texas Hills to get their start, so it is safe to say the Gilstrap family is very community oriented. They produce an array of wines ranging from dry whites and reds, as well as sweet wines and port style wines. They have become pretty well known for their Kick Butt Cab, so I decided it was time Texas Wine Lover did a formal review of said wine, and here it is.
There were two Kick Butt Cabs to choose from in the tasting room, so I tasted them both and picked the Estate bottling rather than the Newsom bottling. Once the cork is evicted from the neck of the bottle, the wine pours a garnet color with a slightly lighter garnet rim. The aromatics dance in the air with a distinct dominance of blueberries, red cherries, and a hint of leather. The palate is very similar minus the leather component. This wine is clean and balanced on the palate and drinks very smoothly.
There is something I cannot avoid discussing here as it is a frustrating thing for me regarding Texas wines. I find this bottle of wine to be a “typical” Texas Cabernet Sauvignon, meaning it is very soft and lacks high extraction and body. Cabernet Sauvignon is a grape noted for dark color, high tannins, and big bold-black fruit flavors, which this wine lacks in all three departments. This is nothing against the winery or winemaker as I consider them friends in the industry, but there are only three Texas Cabs for me that have ever lived up to what I feel Cab should be, and this bottle will not increase that list to four sadly. I can easily see why this wine is so popular amongst Texas wine consumers as it is a very easy drinking wine, but it is another example of Texas Cab Sauv not holding up to the traditional qualities of the grape.
Specifications:
- Texas Hills Vineyard Kick Butt Cab, Estate bottling, 2012 vintage
- Winemaker: Gary Gilstrap
- Appellation: Texas Hill Country AVA, Estate Vineyard – Johnson City, TX
- Grape Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon
- Barrels: N/A
- Clarity/brightness: Clear bright with no detectable flaws and no evidence of gas or sediment
- Tannins: Medium minus
- Acidity: Medium
- Alcohol: Medium
- Finish: Medium
- Alcohol by volume: 13.8%
Final thoughts; Aside from my personal opinions of Texas Cabernet in general and this bottle in particular, the Kick Butt Cab is a real crowd pleaser for those looking for a wine that sips well. Although this wine lacks a full bodied presence and complexity, I find it to be a straightforward patio red that would complement a plate of Brie and crackers.
Sip, savor, and enjoy my fellow aficionados.
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Jeremy, I generally agree with your observation that Texas Cabernet Sauvignons are most definitely not California cabs. I grow and make cabernet sauvignon in Bell County, Central Texas and I don’t think it is the best choice for this area since it struggles to ripen in August in quite high temperatures. I try to prune early, but it stubbornly stays asleep the longest–which is a good thing if we have a late freeze. But back to the central problem. Should Texans NOT label a cab a cab since it doesn’t live up to the expectation of a California cab lover? Or should Texans talk more about the terroir/climate/environment and explain better why our cabs taste like they do? Consumers generally want to taste “something from here”, but what is a winemaker to do when they taste it and complain that it doesn’t taste like a cab from California, a malbec from Argentina, etc?
By the way, I have been selling Texas Hills Kick Butt cabernet Sauvignon for close to 10 years. Not only has Gary been a great mentor and helped me get started, but that wine has always been a well loved, popular wine with the folks we meet!
-June Ritterbusch
Salado Winery Company
http://www.saladowinery.com
Hi June, thank you for your comment and you bring to light a few very valid discussion points. Firstly, thank you for being part of the industry and putting your effort into making Texas wine! Regarding Cabernet Sauvignon in Texas, I never mentioned CA Cab as a comparison, as you and I both know the structural differences could not be more on the opposite ends of the spectrum. It is not a fair comparison by any stretch of the imagination. My outlook on ‘most’ Texas Cabs is that they simply don’t live up to the structural integrity the grape is known for, Cab is a grape noted for big tannins and it is a brilliant backbone grape for blending. I can see the reason many grow and make Cab in Texas still, as there is a demand and everyone knows the grape. As the Texas wine industry continues to grow and the consumers are now beginning to realize the mediterranean grapes are the ones producing stellar wines pretty much every year, why are we still trying to make Cab work? Why not Aglianico and Carignan? They both ripen well in the heat on a yearly basis and hold their acid fairly well considering the extreme temps. I won’t make the comment that Cab cannot be big and bold in Texas, but when only a handful of winemakers are capable of making that happen regularly, my question is why? Why push it? Plant Tempranillo and call it a day is my thought. I don’t feel we should stop labeling Cab as Cab, I think we need to bottle something else that works better and roll with it. Newson Vineyards is a common name associated with high quality Cab, but there are several winemakers producing Cab from his vineyard that still end up producing small, uninspiring offerings. Basically, I want to say I am not bashing Texas Hills for their Kick Butt Cab, nor would I ever mean to insult you by talking Cab down since you grow and make it. My frustrations merely stem from an issue that makes no sense to me personally, pushing a grape to work in Texas that rarely produces anything exciting. Temp, Carignan, Petite Sirah, Aglianico… These grapes would not only be better and easier in the vineyard for most winemakers, yourself included, and you would be producing high quality wine that is varietally correct year after year, instead of struggling to ripen a vine that shuts down in August and ends up producing un-extracted and boring wines a lot of the time. What are your thoughts on Cab and how yours come out in the bottle?
Best,
Jeremy
Sorry have you had much California based Cabernet Sauvignons? I’ve had to drink through several bottles just to find ONE that has a decent body and finish, only to find I have to spend over fifty dollars for that vintage. We are talking about several thousand acres in comparison to just a few thousand plantings, our numbers don’t look that awful. We are finally discovering that this grape grows better in the high plains, that is that, it doesn’t mean that we won’t find anything by mere chance :). Texas is a state that is still playing catch up, trial by error.
Hi Alex, thank you for your reply! I have tasted a large amount of California Cabernet Sauvignon and in my opinion, it is one of the finest places on earth to grow the grape. I am sorry it took so many bottles for you to find a Cab you felt had decent body and finish. I would suggest talking with a local Sommelier to hand pick several bottles of CA Cab for you that are well under $50.00 that are of extreme quality. A few recommendations from me would be Stags’ Leap Cabernet Sauvignon, Justin Cabernet Sauvignon and Alexander Valley Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. The wines mentioned above are all balanced and are of very high quality, they are also affordable. CA is loaded with high quality Cab Sauv at all price points, so the journey is fun and never-ending.
Regarding Texas, we’re not necessarily playing catch up, we are learning which grapes do exceptional on a yearly basis which is why we are concentrating on more mediterranean grape varieties, and they are absolutely thriving in the Lone Star State! Cabernet Sauvignon can be VERY good in Texas, just try Calais Winery or Inwood Estates to discover stellar examples. However, these ‘variety correct’ wines are limited in Texas. I fully agree with your statement about the Texas High Plains, Cabernet Sauvignon does do much better in Terry County at high altitude, with warm days and cool nights. The grapes hold their acidity fairly well up there, but we can still run into ripeness issues if the heat starts creeping well above 100 degrees, which as we know, occurs regularly in the sweltering Texas summers. Keep supporting Texas wine and cheers!
Jeremy
Definitely! Well I have several California Cabs favs that I’ve been able find even under $20, with a great body and finish, but like I mentioned previously it take a wine junky to go through and hunt and peck through from a large stack. My favorites are all California Cabs that are above the $100 price range, but this goes without sayng and I feel is an unfair when I hear people compare these level wines to Texas, especially for wines we price below the $30 price range.
Yes I do agree that our climate is hard to deal with, and that goes for most grapes that we grow due to our freezing temperatures as well. However when we produce a good cab it is a gem. There are three Texas Cabs that I distinctly remember as being fabulous and without comparison: 2000 Pheasant Ridge (aged fabulously after ten years), 2010 Bending Branch (Newsom also a Double Gold in San Fran), and believe it or not 2010 LLano Reserve Newsom (this is by far the the best deal you could find for this level Cab), all had a fantastic body and finish. And right now I am enjoying Messina Hoff’s cabs quite a bit as casual drinking wine, they’re doing great by using both American and French barreling (and did win the Opus One stand off :)). I’ve tried Calais, not Inwood Estates, I’ll need to go through and find me some :).
I don’t believe Texas should stop producing the cabs altogether, but just grow it where it in the right regions and really we need to stop calling it Texas Wine as the growth region :), we should have a good idea by now! Although I will tend to agree that their focus can be more on the Mediterranean French and Spanish varietals especially in regions where we know they do well.
Always a Texas Wine Lover!
Alex-